first reviews of decivilize
| Musique Machine Bluermutt-Decivilize after consumption The musical entity peculiarly named Bluermutt (a word suggested by eBay) creates, like the infamous Perrey & Kingsley, quite catchy pop through ‘avant garde’ means. Not that the guy from Barcelona goes as much overboard as that colourful couple. Not in the sense of painstakingly cutting tapes, which has become a lot easier with the arrival of computers and not in the sense of the almost sickening happy-happy-joy-joy coming from that ‘in sound from way out’. That said, Bluermutt does make popsongs that are upbeat and uplifting while incorporating a lot of harddisc editing. Pretty much every sound that’s recorded on his harddisc has been tampered with. There’s a hint of Richard D. James album as well, in its naivetй of the musical themes combined with the playful electronics. He himself says De La Soul inspired him to make music with samplers.The music on Decivilize After Consumption generally is pretty hectic, full of detail. Even in the calm guitarchords of Fuckin’ Jimmy from here all kinds of electronic crackles disturb the peace. It’s typical for the somewhat restless nature of the album, but it’s also all those soundevents that make the music more fun and exciting. The balance is just right most of the time. Most songs have a strong beat to them to keep it all on the rails.Decivilize After Consumption is a charming listening adventure. The cd comes in a very nice looking oversized digipak, although of course you can also buy mp3’s without fancy packaging. Martijn Busink Cracked The self-proclaimed non-musician Bluermutt mixes a variety of things into one nice ratatouille or risotto of tracks that sound straightforward and laid back but actually aren’t. Funny vocal samples (“I am a lesbian, what do I have to do to prove this to you?” “Well, maybe if you kiss your girlfriend.” “Okay” Smooch. From “old school lesbians vs. the 21st century”.) mix with cubist bass lines and ever changing tinkering in the back and the front. Thanks for using water sounds on “Jimmy Coda” by the way, for some reason unknown to me, I like the sounds of natural water as from rivers, streams, drops and so on in experimental music and I am convinced, there should be more usage of these sounds. Far more. But that is just a personal side note, a bigger bunch of other things are also included here and there. Rhythms change by accident and almost unnoticed (especially on “one body – no head”) and nothing ever really stands still on here. The music lends itself well to lightening up any room in the house, to housework just the same as to studying sessions. Bluermutt works with a compulsive drive, yet pours all the energy in mid-tempo tracks that range from club lounge to avant weirdness – in the same song at the same time simultanously sometimes. Most obvious are the samples about music making from hip hop artists during “self approach”, where talk about bars of rhythms and percussions used for producing tracks are then juxtaposed with a solo on an acoustic guitar. But also the bouncy, bitpart collected “fuckin’ Jimmy from here” is a wonderful, abstract electro track of laidback bleeps and beats. On almost any track somebody is helping out with vocals, guitars, synths and even a slide guitar (Gianluca Pellegrino on the aforementioned “old school lesbians…”) which shows Bluermutts status as node in a network of Italian producers and musicians, also from his running of skyapnea and a bunch of other musical projects. This kind of multiplicity is mirrored in the music, or vice versa, who can say for sure. Maybe running on several multiple levels all at once is a way of live forming all aspects of Bluermutts day to day existence. Or “all my actions cause explosions”. But those are tiny, very relaxing and soothing explosions, nonetheless. |
| Luna Kafe Bluermutt-Decivilize after consumption It’s always exciting to receive discs from the elegant and eclectic Nexsound label. Striking design and cover art, neat digipaks, and with a content always stretching out to be - if not always succeeding they’re at least doing quite well trying - innovative and forward stuff.Bluermutt popped up out of our P.O. box and a joyful spectacle it is. Decivilize after consumption is an explosive and playful collection of songs. Bubbling, bursting hypnobeats, fine samples of voices & sounds and cool cut’n'paste techniques, colourful collages with humour and wit: Bluermutt describes his (their) music as “scrambled humans singing and dancing”. He also says about himself: “…is 25 but looks like 13, maybe 15 with beard.” And: “…doesn’t make art, just assembles sounds together till he’s satisfied.” A laugh and serious business.Bluermutt (I don’t know his name, he’s also one half of Mickey Eats Plastic) lives in Barcelona, Spain, and seems to be a European traveller. In fact the whole Bluermutt project looks like a worldwide project including: Lucz (Roma, Italy - the other half of Mickey Eats Plastic), Fredo Viola (New York, NY), Steph Thirion (Barcelona, Spain), Dorian Concept (Vienna, Austria) and Nils Christian Fossdal (Norway). Some of Bluermutt’s listed sources of inspiration are: Matmos, Neptunes, Busta Rhymes, Fugees, Justine Timberlake, Radiohead, Karate, Basement Jaxx, Timbaland, Mouse on Mars, Mos def. Quite a mix, with some being more obvious than others. Bluermutt had success with his first record, When I’m Not. I’d better check it out. Until then I’ll have plenty of entertaining moments with Decivilize after consumption. It somehow makes me think of a wilder Cornelius, and also the French surprise a couple of years back in time, Cagesan.Finally, just to underline the humour included yet again, Bluermutt’s got some cool and fascinating song titles - often a story on their own: “Welcome to a Bluer Blue Sky”, “Old School Lesbians vs. the 21st Century”, “Fuckin’ Jimmy from here”, “Metallic Concepts for D and M”, “The Diapason’s Uncertainties”. Get it? This is ‘city music’: it should be coming out of your headset while going by bus, by tram or the tube. Dig in and dig! Copyright © 2008 Håvard Oppøyen Vital (FdW) |